Many assignments I give in class are relatively traditional. But I have had opportunities as addressed in my New Teaching Methods section to introduce a few more creative assignments. Below are some of these assignments and sample student work on some of these assignments. (On a few I no longer have copies of student work as they were given back to the students.)
Chem 101 – Consumer Chemistry
One exciting thing about teaching a general education course is that I felt I had more flexibility in what I covered and the types of assignments I could give.
Green Chemistry Infomercial
In groups of 4 or 5, students were assigned to create a 5-8 minute informercial on a green product. Below are the links to the assignment, the rubrics and a student produced video.
Infomercial Assignment
Infomercial Teamwork Rubric
Infomercial Pre-Production Rubric
Infomercial Production Rubric
Student Produced Consumer Chemistry Infomercial
DIY Quizzes
I learned about the idea of Do It Yourself (DIY) quizzes at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. In a DIY quizz students write their own questions and keys. Other students take the quiz and yet others grade it. After learning about this technique I decided to try it, because I felt like I learned a lot writing and grading assignments. It was a complicated process to pull off and was best done in a small class. The majority of a student’s grade came from writing the quiz, so the taker would not be penalized for receiving a bad quiz. Instructions that were given to the students are below.
Chem 453/ Biol 472 Biochemistry I
Just-in-Time TEaching (Nightly Reading Assignments)
Just-In-Time Teaching was described in New Teaching Methods. For each reading, students would answer three questions. The first two were specifically about the reading. The third was always “What did you find the most difficult or challenging in this reading?” Below are screen shots of a set of questions and answers.
Chem 463/ 464 – Biochemistry Lab I and II
Lab Reports
In Biochemistry I and II, students are required to write lab reports. Due to the poor quality of lab reports, in 2009 I began having students write group lab reports in which one student was required to proofread the group lab report. While students still do not proofread as well as they should, it has improved lab reports overall. Below is the assignment followed by an example lab report.
Lab Report Assignment
Sample Lab Report
Biochemistry II Midterm
In response to a concern about students not getting an opportunity to design experiments in upper level labs, I wrote the Biochemistry Lab II Midterm. In the midterm, students are given a problem, they must research and design an experiment to solve it. The experiment needs adapted versions of techniques used in the first half of Biochemistry II. Below is the assignment and a student write-up of their proposed experiment.
Biochemistry Lab II – Midterm
Biochemistry Lab II – Midterm – Student Work